A Monkee’s Tale

Friday, March 23, 2001 | 5:18 a.m.

Nearly 35 years ago NBC debuted "The Monkees," a show about the antics of four youthful members of a band not unlike the Beatles.

Today the Monkees are middle-aged, but they still have a youthful following -- children whose parents and grandparents tuned into the program that aired from 1966-68.

Three of the original four Monkees will perform at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theater Thursday through April 4 as part of the "2001 Monkee Reunion Tour," which began March 1 in Clearwater, Fla., and ends April 6 in Phoenix.

Michael Nesmith, busy with other projects, chose not to join Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones in the nostalgic journey across the country, reliving the days when the actors-turned-singers were turning out such hits as "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Daydream Believer."

Jones, who was a stage actor and an amateur jockey before becoming a Monkee, recently spoke with the Las Vegas Sun before going onstage at the Turning Stone casino, on an Indian reservation in Verona, N.Y. The native of Manchester, England, expressed an eagerness to perform in Las Vegas:

Las Vegas Sun: What can fans look forward to when the Monkees take the stage?

Davy Jones: Our show normally lasts three hours, but they're only giving us an hour-and-a-half. That's only half our show. We don't really want to do that, but they're the ones who pay the bills so we're going to make the best of it.

I'm coming to Vegas and I'm going to kick the hell out of that audience and just let them know what kind of entertainer I am, if they've never seen me before. And I'm going to make the people (in charge at the MGM Grand) sick that they didn't get me in "EFX."

Sun: What's your stage show like?

DJ: We don't really do a rock 'n' roll show. It's more of a theatrical production, more of a Broadway-type show. We're having a great deal of fun. Where else can three guys in their mid-50s get out there and have an audience of screaming teenagers?

Sun: You seem to have a great deal of energy.

DJ: I stay fit. I've been a vegetarian 35 years. I don't want to grow old and be this little fat guy. I'm 56 years old. I'm 5-foot-4 and I weigh 130 pounds, all full of fight. As soon as the spark goes out, when the bounce goes out of your step, you're done for. I'm not going to accept middle age. I'm going to step around it for awhile.

Sun: How do you explain the success of the Monkees over a 35-year period?

DJ: It's difficult to explain. When we're performing, it's like a birthday party every night. It's like Mickey says, "The women in the audience don't throw their knickers anymore, they throw their Depends." It's insane, the kind of love shown the Monkees. Our fans are from 6 to 60. Radios play our records all the time. People just love the Monkees, and we can't get away from it.

The young people still cry. They still get jelly legs. They still throw their arms around me like I'm their father or something. It's tear-jerking to have been loved so long.

The Monkees touched a lot of people. The TV show was innovative, fresh and new. It was ahead of its time.

Sun: How do you stay real on the road?

DJ: People are amazed we do all the normal stuff. We have a bowling night. We have a card night. There are three principals (band members) and 25 people involved in this show, so it's like traveling with a little family. Fortunately, as we all have gotten older, we have learned to adapt to the road, to balance our recreation time and the work. It's a shame you don't get this 'til you're older.

Sun: What do you like to do when you're not performing?

DJ: I train racehorses. I've ridden all my life. I'm a good jockey and it's always been a most relaxing activity for me. It's sort of my recreation. I take my horses from Pennsylvania, where I have a home, to Florida for three months every year. I just bought a small, very modest place in Florida that I can lock up the eight or nine months out of the year that I'm not there.

A lot of my time is spent between my home in Pennsylvania, where my horses, my home and all my everything is, and California, where my daughters are. I've been married and divorced twice. I have four daughters, the eldest being 32 and the youngest being 12 -- a big stretch there. I have an apartment in Santa Barbara.

Sun: What has being a Monkee meant to you?

DJ: I'm going to be Davy Jones of the Monkees 'til the day I die, and it's up to me to enrich myself with that open door -- to be able to move on to production and to character parts, all the things I've done.

As an actor, my talents have been totally wasted. I happen to be a very good actor. There is always that thing in the back of my mind about what I could have been. But I know which side the bread is buttered on. If that's what the audience wants, then I'm Davy the tamborine player. I can play that part. It's easy for me.